Glencore waits for nod

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GLENCORE International Plc, awaiting Chinese approval for its US$33 billion takeover of Xstrata Plc, said the country's competition regulator is assessing the influence the combined group will have in the copper market.

"We have been marketing Xstrata tons into China anyway in the past, so it's not a big increase which is under the control of Glencore," said Chief Executive Ivan Glasenberg.

Glasenberg is seeking to buy Xstrata to create the world's fourth-largest mining firm by adding coal, copper, nickel and zinc to its cotton-to-crude oil trading business. The biggest publicly traded commodities supplier yesterday extended to April 16 a deadline to complete the deal as it looks to clear the final hurdle for a takeover that after 13 months has won approval in Europe, Australia and South Africa.

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